No Time Limits

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"Hiccup? Are you up there?"

It had been such a peaceful morning in berk. For once, there hadn't been a morning fight with Toothless, nor had Stoick woke Hiccup up. He had thought that he would finally have a chance to have a day off, to sleep. But of course, if not Toothless or Stoick were there to destroy it, someone else would. This time, it was Astrid.
Hiccup would usually be happy and excited to see Astrid, but today he didn't actually want to see anyone. Wow, did he really think this? Yes, he did. "Yes, I am." Hiccup groaned from his squiggly bed.
Astrid looked around the house, knowing that Hiccup was still in his bed. She didn't want to force him out of bed, even though he wanted him to get up. She giggled quietly at the mess in the house. You could tell that there was no woman around, to clean. There were weapons and tools of all sorts, on the dining table. There were dirty dishes, bowls and plates under them, and Hiccup's many books and papers.
Suddenly a loud groan escaped from upstairs. Astrid looked up, to see Toothless looking at her from upstairs. "Hey, Toothless." she said, smiling at the black dragon. The dragon grunted and smiled back, and then it turned its head to see what Hiccup was doing. He was apparently trying to sleep again.
"Hey, Hiccup, I thought we could go out flying together today, now that we both have a day off, for once." Astrid suggested, walking towards the dining table, to see what the writings on the papers said. Hiccup grunted as an answer. "Sounds like a good idea, eh?" Astrid said, as she stroked her finger over the smudgy, brown paper on the table.
Toothless was watching the blonde girl intensively. The Night Fury's tail was wagging slightly, hitting the edge of Hiccup's bed, making a noise that annoyed Hiccup even more. "Stop it." he groaned. Toothless turned to watch his human, with a disappointed face. Why wouldn't he wake up? Why did they have to be so silent?
"Come on, Hiccup!" Astrid incited, not actually paying attention to Hiccup, but the papers on the table. There were some notes that Astrid didn't understand, there were names with numbers. She wouldn't understand what the numbers were for, other than a time for something. "Astrid ????", was the last writing on the paper. Why was her name in it? Why were there question marks after her name?
Hiccup had finally sat up in the bed. He glanced down at Astrid, noticing she was reading his notes. He quickly stepped up from the bed, almost causing himself to trip on his prosthetic leg. "No, don't read those!" he almost yelled. He stumbled down the stairs and approached Astrid, who was now holding the paper in her hand. He stopped as she turned towards him and held up the paper.
"What are these for?" she asked, pointing at her name on the paper.
"Um… nothing special, just…" Hiccup stuttered, rubbing his neck.
"Uh… they're numbers of how important those things and persons are!" Hiccup lied, trying to sound convincing.
Astrid scowled at him in disbelief, and glanced at the paper again.
"Then why is Toothless less important than a test drive? And why are there question marks after my name?" she asked. Toothless heard his name being spoken, and quietly slipped down the stairs, now standing behind Hiccup, trying to look over the boy's shoulder.
"I… eh…" Hiccup blushed, not figuring out anything to say. Suddenly Toothless nudged him in the back.
"Oh, right! You wanted to go out flying, huh?"
Astrid crossed her arms. "Well…"
Hiccup jumped forward and snatched the paper out of her hand.
"Okay, let's go then!" he said, crumpling the paper and shoving it in his pocket.  Astrid scowled at him, but decided to go with it anyway. She waited for Hiccup as he went to get his flying gear, then they went outside.
Outside, Astrid's Deadly Nadder was waiting patiently for her human.
"Hey, stormfly." Hiccup said, patting the colorful dragon.
Hiccup climbed up on Toothless' back,
"So…" Hiccup said,
"Fast or slow?" He looked over to Astrid, or where she had been the second before, as Stormfly was already up in the air.
"Hey, that's unfair!" Hiccup said, and steered Toothless up in the air, to follow them.
Toothless bumped into Stormfly, almost causing Astrid to fall. "Hey!" she exclaimed, in surprise.
Hiccup grinned at her. "Oh, one of the most important things when flying a dragon is to have a good hold on!" he said. Toothless imitated his grin, in his own, special way.
"Well, Mr. Know-it-all. What to do when another dragon bumps into yours?" Astrid said, bumping her dragon into Hiccup's, causing Toothless to growl uncomfortably.
"Well, Ms. Know-it-all." Hiccup imitated. "Then you should do this!" he said, and coxed Toothless to a dive. Astrid laughed and followed after him. 

"Hiccup? What was that paper all about?" Astrid suddenly asked.
Hiccup squirmed a bit, his left was holding onto a fish on a stick.
"Nothing." he said shortly, focusing on the fire burning his fish, slowly.
"Well, it must've been something." Astrid protested sitting up in a more comfortable position, making Hiccup withdraw his arm.
"If I wasn't allowed to read it…"
Hiccup put up his hand in defense.
"It's nothing important." he told her, firmly. He was glad that Toothless suddenly grunted in pleasure, by having his raw fishes. It stole Astrid's attention, and she looked at the Night Fury with a smile on her face. Hiccup had so much to thank the dragon for. He would never be able to pay his debt for him.
Stormfly made a noise, trying to tell the girl that she was hungry as well. Astrid reached out her hand and patted the dragon gently on her nose.
Astrid got up from her sitting position.
"I gotta get back home. Stormfly is hungry."
Hiccup looked disappointed, but he knew how it felt to see your own dragon hungering.
"All right." he said, and stood up as well, putting down the stick with the fish on the ground. He glanced at Toothless who was finishing the last fishes.
"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
Astrid nodded.
"Yes." she whispered, before turning around to get up on the dragon's back.
"Sleep tight." was the last thing she said, before leaving Hiccup and Toothless.
Hiccup sat down and was just about to pick up the stick, when he noticed that the fish that was on it before was gone. He glanced at the dark dragon, which had its back turned against him, probably pretending to sleep. "Toothless?" he spoke. The dragon looked over its shoulder innocently.
"I had a fish right here." he said, pointing to the stick.
"Do you have any idea where it is?" Toothless quickly put down his head again.
"Oh come on!" Hiccup exclaimed, walking over to the dragon.
"I was expecting to enjoy a peaceful evening snack."
Hiccup had spent his whole day off together with Astrid. They had been flying around Berk all day, looking at the beautiful scenery, but the most beautiful had been the sunset they had been enjoying the moment earlier, while having some fish. It was already getting a bit chilly, as the sun had almost disappeared, and you could already see a few twinkling stars. Hiccup wasn't in a hurry home anyway, so he sat down by the fire, and just watched it.
"Come here, bud." he spoke, and immediately Toothless got up and walked over to his side.
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To be continued...

Can anyone guess what the paper is about?

Hiccup and AstridWhere stories live. Discover now